The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, putting the prominent vaccine skeptic in control of $1.7 trillion in federal spending, vaccine recommendations and food safety as well as health insurance programs.

The chief said the loss of critical employees overseeing the nation’s food supply made his work impossible. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s new health secretary, has pledged to gut the division.

Kennedy has also vowed to gut the Food and Drug Administration and suspend research on infectious ... He was also widely opposed by his own family, with his cousin Caroline Kennedy, a former diplomat, recently accusing him of being a "predator" who led ...